DURHAM, N.C. – Years of preparation and planning, along with countless hours of blood, sweat and tears have come down to this, as head coach Marissa Young and the Duke softball Blue Devils open their inaugural season Thursday, Feb. 8 in Boca Raton, Fla., at the FAU “First Pitch” Classic.

The three-day event, which pits the Blue Devils against Florida Atlantic, Ohio State, Michigan State and Boston University, will take place at the FAU Softball Stadium. The Blue Devils will open their inaugural campaign with a Thursday night doubleheader against the home-standing Owls, with first pitches set for 5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. ET.

Duke will then take on Big Ten foes Ohio State (1:30 p.m.) and Michigan State (3:45 p.m.) Friday, Feb. 9 before closing out opening weekend against the Boston Terriers at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Thursday’s doubleheader will be live streamed at www.fausports.tv, with a subscription required. FAU will provide live stats throughout the weekend, which can be found at www.GoDuke.com/softball. After the opening weekend, the Blue Devils will head home to Durham to host their first true games at the new Duke Softball Stadium with the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Duke will welcome Penn State and Purdue, along with ACC foe Virginia Tech to Durham for the three-day tournament. The Blue Devils will host Penn State Friday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. ET in the first official home game in school history, with the contest, along with all of the weekend’s games, being live streamed on ACC Network Extra.

Live Stream…Duke’s first two contests of the inaugural season on Thursday will be live streamed on fausports.tv, with a paid subscription required to view the contests.Duke at Florida Atlantic (DH) Live Stream

Live Stats…Live stats will be provided by Florida Atlantic for all games over the weekend, which can be accessed by going to www.goduke.com/softball and clicking on “Schedule/Results” or clicking the link below. |

Ticket Information…Tickets for this weekend’s FAU “First Pitch” Classic can be purchased at www.fausports.com/tickets. A weekend pass is $20/ticket, while a day pass is $10/ticket. Single game tickets are $5. For more information, click the link below.

The Blue Devils open their inaugural season Thursday against Florida Atlantic after the creation of the program was announced Dec. 16, 2013. The addition of softball as Duke’s 27th intercollegiate program was approved in the spring of 2014.

Duke is the 12th school in the ACC with a softball program. Clemson will become the 13th when it opens its inaugural season in 2020.

Head coach Marissa Young, who was hired July 29, 2015, begins her first season as a head coach of a Division I program after serving as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan (2012-13) and North Carolina (2014-15).

Duke’s inaugural roster is comprised of eight freshmen, four redshirt freshmen, two sophomores, one redshirt sophomore, one junior and one graduate student.

Freshman righty Peyton St. George was the first player to commit to the Duke softball program.

The Blue Devils hosted the NC State Wolfpack on Sept. 30, 2017 in its first competition as a program, opening its fall slate in front of 1,318 fans at the Duke Softball Stadium.

On Deck…The Blue Devils will open up their inaugural home slate next weekend, hosting the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at the Duke Softball Stadium. Duke will welcome Penn State and Purdue, along with ACC foe Virginia Tech to Durham for the three-day tournament. The Blue Devils will host Penn State Friday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. ET in the first official home game in school history, with the contest, along with all of the weekend’s games, being live streamed on ACC Network Extra.

Social Media…For more information on Duke softball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for “DukeSoftball”. You can also find all-access coverage of all Duke athletic programs on SnapChat by searching for “dukeathletics”.